This blog post is about the 1953 Animated film Peter Pan. It is the 14th feature length Disney Animation film.

Peter Pan was released on 5th February 1953 and produced by Walt Disney. It is based on the play of the same name by J.M. Barrie.

Peter Pan begins in a London townhouse in Bloomsbury during the early 1900’s. The house belongs to George and Mary Darling along with their three children Wendy, John and Michael as well as the dog nursemaid Nana.

Wendy Darling enjoys telling her younger brothers stories about Peter Pan. One night, several mishaps happen that leads to Nana being chained up outside and George stating that that night would be the last night in the nursery for Wendy. The parents leave for a party and the children go to sleep.

Later on that night, Peter Pan visits the darling house along with his pixie friend Tinkerbell looking for his shadow which had been caught by Nana on a previous evening. After finding his shadow Peter tries to stick his shadow back on with soap, the accompanying noise wakes Wendy who agrees to sew the shadow back on.

After a brief discussion, Wendy, John and Michael join Peter on his trip to Neverland which is where Peter lives.

In Neverland, Wendy, John and Michael have amazing adventures and meet various different characters including Captain Hook and Tiger Lily.

At the end of the film Peter defeats Captain Hook and uses his ship to transport Wendy, John and Michael home. Once they arrive back home the children are greeted warmly by their parents.

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell go back to Neverland and have many more adventures.

Captain Hook is ranked twenty-fourth in Empire magazine’s “50 Best Animated Movie Characters.”

Tinker Bell has become one of the main mascots for the Walt Disney Company and one of its most popular and iconic characters. She has her own spin-off movie series and appears in the opening credits of Disney movies.

Peter Pan was nominated for the American Film Institute’s “100 Years …. 100 Heroes & Villains” list. Unfortunately he did not make the cut.

Originally, Nana was going to journey to Never Land alongside the Darling children and have a comical subplot chasing after Tinker Bell. She also would have been the film’s narrator.

The original novel Peter Pan was written by J. M. Barrie. Wendy’s name comes from one of J. M. Barrie’s friends, Margaret Henley. She called him her “friendy” which came out pronounced “fwendy”.

J. M. Barrie left the rights of Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital which is a children’s hospital in London.

I will rate the film into five categories, lighting, sound, sadness, scariness and Autism friendly. I will also give an overall score.

Lighting and sound categories are in reference to light and sound sensitivity.  As a person with Autism I have both but it is possible to have one or the other and still be a person with Autism.

Scariness: 1/10

Sadness: 1/10

Sound:1/10

Lightning: 1/10

Autism Friendly: Yes

Overall Score: 4/40

In my opinion this is a brilliant old classic however there are some issues with some of the contents of the film. Mainly how the native American tribe is portrayed but it is consistent with attitude of the time. The original play has much sentimental value for me as it’s often performed at Christmas in the UK and I have many memories of watching it as a child with my family.